Brisbane beats Sydney, Melbourne clearance rates for first time

Brisbane pulled a 14.9 percentage point surge in its auction clearance rate to come out above the national average.Source:Supplied

A FRESH buzz has emerged around Brisbane after its auction clearance rate punched above the national average to beat both Sydney and Melbourne for the first time on record.

Preliminary results from CoreLogic show Brisbane pulled a whopping 60 per cent clearance rate in the past week, beating Sydney’s 56.5 per cent and Melbourne’s 55.7 per cent — both of which were generally considered havens for auction activity in Australia.

The results come as auction volumes continue to build leading into the peak Spring selling season which begins next weekend.

CoreLogic national auction market commentator Kevin Brogan told The Courier-Mail it was the first time the city had gone above Sydney and Melbourne at the same time.

“This is probably the only occasion where Brisbane has had a clearance rate higher than both Sydney and Melbourne so I think congratulations are in order,” he said.

CoreLogic results showed Brisbane’s auction clearance rate jumped 14.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year, while Sydney fell -11.3, Melbourne had the second biggest drop of -19.9, Canberra tumbled -23.7, while Adelaide (5.7 percentage points) and Perth (10pp) both rose.

Mr Brogan said Brisbane had beaten Melbourne once before during Easter 2012 and beaten Sydney the first week after Christmas in 2016, but never during a normal market period and never at the same time.

“I think the comparison is warranted,” he said. “There is certainly evidence in both Brisbane and Adelaide that there are investors from Sydney and Melbourne looking at property.”

“When the markets in the eastern states start to soften, a steady performance (such as that of Brisbane) suddenly becomes an attribute which is sought after.”

Mr Brogan said analysts were watching closely to see how things panned out heading into the peak listing season of Spring.

“What we will watch for keenly is to see if the anticipated supply in properties coming to auction is matched by an increase in demand.”

Tara and Mark Kelly fell in love with their new home in Morningside, Brisbane, which they bought at auction over the weekend. Picture: AAP Image/Josh Woning.Source:News Limited

Buyers Mark and Tara Kelly and their sons Hayden and Blair were among those overjoyed over the weekend in Brisbane, having bought their new “forever home” in Morningside.

Agent Rachel Fechner of Place saw auctioneer Peter Bergin seal the home for $900,000 under the hammer which was about $25,000 above the seller’s reserve.

One of the bidders was on the phone from Sydney which saw the price push past $880,000 before the Kellys snapped up the home.

“We had been looking for about three months and there wasn’t a lot in our price range so when this one came along we pretty much fell in love with it,” Mr Kelly said.

“Neither of us had bought a property at auction before so it was a little intimidating. We decided to hold off and see what our competition did, they opened with a vendor bid, then an interstate buyer bid and that gave an indication of where we were going with the price.”

He said the home’s character, city views and the fact that it was adjacent to bushland were all key to the sale.

“We fell in love with the place pretty early. We went to two open homes and a private viewing. We were a little too eager. We could have easily shown up every time it was open to drool over it … We just have to move in now.”